Tales From the Crypt: The Lazy Bank Rep
I’m sure I’m treading dangerously here, but if you’ve been in the car business for a while then you will definitely get it. In the car business we have relationships with banks. Most banks have area representatives that are supposed to be your liaison with the bank. Help you. Service you. Build the relationship. Help you increase the amount of business that you do with them. That is their role. I’ve had some that were absolutely amazing. Visit you regularly. Help you when you ask for it. Hard working quality people. But I’ve had some horrible ones too, and they really piss me off, because they kind of have you by the balls. They can provide you the worst customer service and you can’t say a thing because they have the power to really screw you.
I remember twenty-five years ago or so, I had started, with my partner, a used car business that had three locations. It was a good business. I had experience as a GSM for many years at a new car store; my partner as a Dealer Principal on the new car side. We had some finance sources but were looking to add this one major bank as a finance source. We were big enough, experienced enough, had been in the business long enough, and other dealers like us had no problem getting signed. It should have been no problem.
I reached out to the bank representative for the area looking to get the ball rolling. Let’s say his name was Jay, because well…his name was Jay. It took a few calls but eventually I got to speak with him, and he dropped an application at my office. He told me, “It should be no problem, it will take a few weeks. I’ll get back to you shortly.” I filled out the application promptly. That day. Because in business that’s when you do things, right away. I forwarded the docs to him and waited and waited and waited. Weeks went by. In fact, two months went by so I called him to follow up. He said, no worries he had submitted the application and they were backed up. Be patient, he said. He will get back to me.
I filled out the application promptly, because in business you do things right away.
After another month or so I followed up again and basically got the same response. Really sorry. These things can take some time. Be patient. He will get back to me. He never did. Not from day one. I had to chase him down in the first place to get the application, then leave multiple messages every time just to get the same response every time. “It should be no problem, it’s been submitted, we are just waiting for it to get approved. They are backed up.”
Honestly, patience is not my specialty, but man I was patient. Months I waited until I had finally had enough. I called his boss. “I submitted an application several months ago to become a dealer partner and still have not heard back. I was wondering if you could take a look for me, I would really like to get the ball rolling.” The response: “We don’t have an application for you guys. Let me look into it.”
I couldn’t believe it. The application hadn’t even been submitted. Lazy fuck. The manager called me back and explained that the representative didn’t submit the application because in his view, “We were not a good candidate. Wrong type of dealer. Wrong book of business.” Yada yada yada. So the bank rep, who was so friggin’ lazy that he couldn’t even submit the application, the one he told me he had submitted months earlier, lies to his boss and says we're not a good candidate just to cover his ass. What a piece of crap. I threw that guy under the bus every chance I had over the next twenty years with every employer he had. And there were a few. I hope he got what he worked for, nothing.
I threw that guy under the bus every chance I had over the next twenty years with every employer he had.
I had another bank representative years ago whom I met only a few times. I swear this is a true story. In ten years as our bank rep I would see him exactly four times. The first three times were roughly three years apart. He would call, make an appointment, sit down in front of me and tell me if we didn’t send more business, he would have to cut us off. That was it. Nothing more. No, “How can we help?” Nothing. Send more deals or you're cut off. He would get some report that had a list of dealers not booking enough business and then he would visit them and threaten to cut them off if he didn’t get more business. That was it. Job done. No regular visits. No relationship building. Call him for help on a deal? “Call the centre. I can’t do anything.” Just an unbelievably lazy fucker. And literally nothing you could do. What are you going to do, complain? I don’t think so. You know the fourth and last time I saw this guy? He was doing the goodbye tour with his boss when he retired. His boss sat in front of me and my partner and said how lucky we were to have him as a representative. I almost threw up. Literally. But I said nothing because I’ve come to learn the hard way that people won’t hesitate to throw you under the bus to cover their ass. Best just to let it slide sometimes.
Over the years since, I have had some great reps, and some not so great. Some that do everything to help, and some that literally do nothing. Honestly, I have a few bank reps that I have no idea what they do. Never see them. On multiple occasions I have had bank reps for years and never met them. I’ve also had some great ones. One, let’s call him Chris, because well, his name is Chris, I would see every week, once a week on the same day at the same time. Sit down and go over deals and statistics. Talk about credit declines, or how to book more deals. We did a ton of deals with that bank. Interestingly Chris still has a great career, and I have no idea where Jay wound up. Likely nowhere hard work would be required. I guess it’s like everything else, there is good and bad service, good and bad managers, and good and bad representatives. But when they represent an entity that you rely on for your security and the health of your business, and they suck, sadly there is little you can do about it because they have you in a very vulnerable position. So you have to wait until the opportunity arises one day, to throw them right under the bus where they belong, like Jay. Good luck and good selling.
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